Panthers provide Marchand update. And Paul Maurice talks Brady Tkachuk addition

Florida Panthers admin September 16, 2026 0 Comments

Panthers provide Marchand update. And Paul Maurice talks Brady Tkachuk addition

The Florida Panthers will be without one of their top players to begin the 2026-27 season.

Forward Brad Marchand will miss the start of the season as he recovers from offseason surgery, Panthers president of hockey operations Bill Zito said Wednesday.

But Zito did not seem concerned about a potential long-term absence.

“I anticipate Marchy back early in the season,” Zito said, “and I would say that we’re going to be very conservative with bringing him back.”

Marchand announced in a video released on Instagram last month that he underwent surgery, although the specifics about the surgery — when it happened, what it was for and the timeline for return — were not disclosed.

Marchand, who turned 38 in May, played in just 52 games for the Panthers last season — the first of a six-year deal he signed in the 2025 offseason. He logged 54 points (27 goals, 27 assists) while dealing with an assortment of lower-body injuries that ultimately forced him to shut down his season after Florida’s March 6 game at Detroit.

Marchand said after the season ended that he had hoped to avoid surgery but knew that there was “still a potential” that he would have to go under the knife.

”It’s a last resort,” Marchand said in April. ”There’s so much time here that we’re not in a playoff position to where we’re going to try and do everything we can to get around it without having surgery. But, yeah, it’s not off the table.”

Players were going through their medical intakes on Wednesday ahead of their first on-ice session of training camp Thursday. Panthers coach Paul Maurice said the team will have better clarity on Marchand’s status following their first practice.

Maurice talks Brady Tkachuk

The Panthers’ big addition this offseason came in the form of forward Brady Tkachuk, who the team acquired in a trade that sent three first-round picks and a second-round pick to the Ottawa Senators.

Tkachuk, who turned 27 on Wednesday, spent his entire NHL career with Ottawa prior to the trade, producing 463 points (213 goals, 250 assists) over 572 games in eight seasons. He was also part of the United States team that won gold at the 2026 Winter Olympics with brother Matthew.

“A powerful skater,” Maurice said. “He’s a powerful man. He’s physically dominant in games. He has hands that can help him. He can play on both sides of that puck, and he can make a highly skilled play. But I’m not expecting it every time he touches the puck. He can be very, very physical, but I don’t want it every time he’s on the ice. The challenge for Brady is he is so good at so many things that I just want him to be great at two to three. I’d like him to not try to be great at everything because if you focus on being great at 10 things, you become an inconsistent player because nobody can be that good at everything every night. Just try to get one or two things. Try to do that, and you hope that is your catalyst for the rest of your game being strong.”

Maurice said his plan to begin the season is to have Brady Tkachuk on Florida’s top line with center Aleksander Barkov and right wing Sam Reinhart.

“It could be great for Sasha [Barkov],” Maurice said. “This isn’t all about Brady and the new guy. It could be great for Sasha — a big man that can control the puck. Because the big man that can control the puck on that line is Barkov. Well, that’s a lot of being big and a lot of control in the puck, and that’s a lot of wear and tear you can spread that out over another guy, another big man, and then I’ve got a really good shooter there [in Reinhart]. So between two big guys that you can’t get the puck off easily and a guy who can find the hole and shoot the puck, it could be really good.”

Was there — or is there — consideration to put Brady Tkachuk on a line with his brother Matthew and center Sam Bennett?

“I don’t want to give everybody what they want with the two Tkachuk brothers together and Sam in the middle,” Maurice said, before quipping “they’ll be in jail before the puck drops.”